One Language Down, A Review of The Pimsleur Method

Two months ago I wrote a blog post about how I was going to learn every language. At the time I had just finished the Pimsleur tapes for Romanian I and German I, and was moving on to German II. I’ve now finished a complete Pimsleur course, German I – III, and figured I should write about it while it’s still fresh in my mind.

The short version is that I love Pimsleur, but it’s not perfect and it’s not for everyone. The best method of language learning is full immersion with studying. If your primary focus is to learn a language, I would recommend that over Pimsleur by a landslide. For all the information you could ever want on that, check out my buddy Benny Lewis’ book about it.

Pimsleur, on the other hand, is perfect for people who want to learn large usable chunks of languages without impacting their schedule. Right now, that’s me.

The Pimsleur method is based on spaced repetition, having to recall words at specific intervals needed by the brain to commit them to memory. Every day you listen to a 25-30 minute tape, which requires you to respond to prompts. I’d say it’s roughly 50/50 in terms of listening and repeating.

The more major languages have 90 day courses, broken up into I, II, and III levels, so you end up listening to 45 hour of a language and speaking it for 45 hours. Over that time your listening comprehension becomes quite good, as does your accent. I found German pronunciation difficult at first, but all of that repetition has left me pronouncing with ease.

Pimsleur courses are very similar to each other. The first thirty days of each one are almost exactly the same in terms of vocab and phrases that you learn. Once you get to the second level, the grammar of the language begins to be addressed, and vocab becomes more tailored to the culture of the language you’re learning. The third level really ramps up the amount of vocab you learn, and continues to introduce new grammar.

My biggest complaint, by far, of Pimsleur is that the vocabulary selection is just adequate. It’s focused heavily on business topics and formalities, leaving some common and useful words out completely. I would be much happier they took the top X most used words and then taught them in that order.

For languages with varying levels of formality, there is a very strong emphasis on the polite forms. So in German I learned Sie, not Du. They give a token effort to the informal, but I would have preferred it to be the other way around.

There’s also a token effort to teach reading, at least in German. If I recall correctly, Japanese doesn’t have that. I don’t care very much about reading, so this is enough for me.

The real beauty of Pimsleur is that it’s consistent and predictable. If you just listen to the tape every day and do your best, you will get results. You don’t have to plan lessons or study or do flashcards. You just do your tape and forget about it until the next day. If you do your tapes on the train or in the car, you can have almost no impact on your available time.

After one month, you learn enough of your language to be useful in visiting that country. You aren’t able to have a real conversation, but you can ask for directions, order, ask basic questions, and understand the responses. In Romania I managed to cobble together a sentence about buying a SIM card for a phone.

After two months, you essentially have the same capability, but with a larger vocabulary and greater capacity to understand responses. You understand more grammar, but probably not well enough to actually use it effectively.

After three months, you can have basic conversations. Your limiting factor will be vocabulary, your accent will be quite good, and your subconscious understanding of grammar will also be good. You’ll probably be able to read enough to make use of signs (except pictographic languages). This is an excellent foundation for studying the language independently, which is what I did with Japanese and what Todd did with Spanish. One month of drilling useful vocabulary would make you conversational (with tolerable grammatical errors).

Pimsleur is great, but I desperately wish it was better. It focuses on all of the things that matter most for traveling, but the limited/misprioritized vocabulary and formality mean that I’m spending a lot of time learning things I don’t really care about. Even still, I consider it to be a really great investment of time and I plan on continuing through until I’ve learned over 20 languages. Next up is Egyptian Arabic.

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Photo is some graffiti from Berlin


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